Kurzweil Rumour

One of the better layouts for studio use. Clean and simple.

The presets are 90% useable as they are I really can't see the need for tweaking beyond the tap tempo button. Sound is great. I primarily run my Rockmaster thru this unit for reverb, chorus and echo.

Haven't had it long enough to tell.

I emailed a question and had a response back in a few hours. And this was on a weekend. Very kind.

This is a good studio unit. It is not a good guitar rack unit. Sound wise it is superb. Function wise it is not guitar rack friendly.

Problem 1: No midi mapping - If you have a midi pedal with fixed banks you have to implement several go-arounds use the footswitch. Copy desired presets to User Banks and then use the banks in that range. Pain. Used my Marshall JMP-1 which has in and out midi mapping to control it. This Marshall made it switchable for me.

Problem 2: Since the unit is versatile I wanted to hook it to my patch bay which connect to both inputs. The inputs are auto-sensing for mono or stereo. If I plug a mono source into my patch bay the device thinks it's stereo (since both inputs are plugged in) and I get 1/2 of a signal. Should have made a little switch with auto-sensing on/off.

Problem 3: The big one. There is a time lag when loading presets. You have to be aware and creative to use this live in a guitar rack.

Problem 4: No on/off switch. 500 bucks should always include a $2.00 on/off switch.

These problems are counter-balanced by the unit is laid out superbly for studio work, has a ton of great sounds, is quiet and Kurzweil responds quickly to questions.

Studio work or if you have patience and ingenuity = yes. Otherwise get the TC G-Major... much more guitar friendly.

Easy to use. Rack mount then rotate the dials for a broad assortment of reverbs, chorus, delays and flange effects. I particularly like the reverse reverb. Sounds great.

Sound quality is pro. There are many effects and you can dial in and change variables of each.

Here's the rub. I bought it in the middle of August, used it a few hours total on a project then let it sit for a month or so. When I used it on another project it keep rebooting over and over and would not run long enough to get through a song. After heating up it just kept rebooting. Couldn't return it to Musicians Friend as they don't take returns after 45 days. So right now it's sitting for many weeks at an authorized service repair center waiting to be repared or replaced I would imagine.

The manual says to service at a repair center so that's what I am doing. I have not actually delt with the K company.

So far my opinion of it is low because of the break down. If a device doesn't work, then it matters not how great it sounds when it does work. If it was stolen I would probably purchase something else as I have lost faith in the quality of the product. Open it up and there isn't much to these things, just a board with transisters and chips on it. The product might need better quality chips for the money this product costs.

I've used the MidiVerb IV (junk), Quadraverb (decent), Reflex (pretty smooth) REV500 (decent), Sony 55 (decent), SRV3030 (decent) M2000 (good when tweaked), and the Rumour. The Rumour has the smoothest reverb tails. The only thing the M2000 has over the Rumour is that it's a dual engine vs. single for the Rumour. Used M2000s are around $425, new Rumours are just under $500. If you need two verbs, get the M2000. If you want smooth, get the Rumour. If you want the world's easist unit to use, get the Rumour.

Very easy to use - all front-panel knob-based operation.

Great sound, no noise. I use it primarily as an outboard reverb unit for a DAW setup. I actually use the analog I/O since my digital I/O is in use already with other boxes...still sounds great.

Reverbs are great (beats just about any plugin reverb hands down) - presets are great - even the flange/chorus/delay settings are great. Just a superb all -around box. 10 rating considers its sub-$500 price tag.

Only had it for about 2 months...don't know yet.

Haven't had to call 'em yet - hopefully I won't have to.

No, this isn't a 960L or a System 6000...but I guess it's sorta related to the KSP8, which ain't half bad. This little box simply performs - the reverbs are very very nice and the fact that it spits out some other decent effects is a bonus. "10 - Fanstastic value" sums it up nicely.